Forskning

My research areas involve young children's everyday lives across family and ECEC centers and research current themes are family life, parenthood, young children's development, early childhood interventions and troubled families.

I am currently PI on the Sapere Aude research project '(Re)configuration of parenthood', and the research project 'The first 1000 days - ambiguities of parental involvement', both awarded from Independent Research Fund Denmark.

I combine and develop social psychological theory using inspiration from childhood studies, sociocultural developmental psychology, and the sociology of everyday life. Through multiple interdisciplinary collaborations, I seek to contribute with practice-relevant knowledge on children and parent’s perspectives on being enrolled in early childhood interventions.

I head the research group CARE – Children’s Development, Family Life & Early Interventions. The group’s research focuses on the intersection between everyday family life and welfare policy, with particular emphasis on early childhood development and the first 1000 days of life. CARE investigates how universal welfare services—such as ECEC and health promotion —alongside targeted municipal interventions, shape children’s developmental opportunities and parental involvement. The group’s work is grounded in sociocultural developmental psychology, childhood studies, and social work, and employs participatory and mixed-method approaches to capture the lived experiences of children and families.

CARE’s research contributes to understanding how welfare policies are experienced and enacted in diverse family contexts, and how interventions acquire different meanings depending on social and cultural conditions. By systematically incorporating the perspectives of children and parents, the group offers nuanced insights on the complexities of family life and the implications of policy and institutional frameworks.

I also head the research center CELFS – Center for the Everyday Lives of Families in the Welfare State – which serves as a platform for external and international collaboration.